Vyndictive

iTrader: (28)

I'm still here. No 8 to speak of. But still using my knowledge gained from the 8 and messing up car projects along the way.

The most recent car to be "Steve'd" was Kristens Civic. I put a new header back exhaust system on it because the cat to catback flange was rusted away gone. I got the entire system hung, but the bolts from header to cat were completely rusted on. I did manage to cut them, but still could not hammer or drill them out. Without air tools or propane torches, I just paid the $40 to have the two bolts extracted.

Then driving it home. I hear something fall on to the road and then the sound of open headers again. Take it back to shop - accuse them of doing shotty work. They come out and tell me I failed to tighten down the o2 sensor blocker...and it fell out.

So after they laughed at me and reminded me twice it was something "I" failed to do. They welded it up for free.


In other news, finally sold the motorcycle (yesterday as a matter of fact). S2k is in project form again waiting for me to take measurements for custom seat brackets for the race seats, need header, highflow cat, wideband o2 sensor installed. And I've got konis waiting for me to purchase the ground control coilover sleeves to assemble and put those on. New brake pads are needed, dif fluid, clutch fluid, and I'm toying with the idea of buying some defi knock-off gauges to really complete the rice. Not to mention new tires.

blazenblue63

Damn that's gonna be nice when it's done Steve. And custom geauges are always cool. I still want the geauge cluster jon has. And thanks again for the help with the wheels yesterday.

Gopherage

Does anyone know if there is an easy way to test if my coils are still good? My car still feels fine and my gas mileage is only down a few mpg but I haven't done as much highway as I use to. I have the original coils with 38k miles on them. From what I've read they should be due soon. I changed out the plugs around 28k but didn't do the coils at that time because I didn't realize they were a big deal. Should I just do them because it is time?

Vyndictive

iTrader: (28)

If you noticed this after your tire change, I would assume that's most of it. Although you do have those boat-anchor 19s as your summer tires, so I cant imagine swapping to you snows making that big of difference.

Could be running the winter blend gas?

But I bet Jon would support me in saying don't just start with plugs and coils because that's what everybody says to start with. I'd wait to see if any other symptoms arise before spending the money on plugs and coils.

Jon316G

iTrader: (1)

Since the ignitor is what commonly fails within our coils, there is no easy way to bench test it.
Best thing to use is an ignition timing light on each wire and ensure the light flashes consistently.
I have one laying around somewhere, but can't seem to find it.

There is no "time" or mileage when it comes to replacing coils or plugs.
Coils have been known to fail right out of the box while others have gone 60K+ miles on a set.
The "30K mile rule" on coils is something created by members here and is nothing more than a rough average and assumption to that.

Gopherage

Thanks guys for the input. I really haven't noticed any decrease in power or anything besides dropping down to 18-19mpg. Guess i'm going to keep the ones I have and see if I am one of those lucky people who get 60k coils.

Haha "boat anchors" very true.

blazenblue63

Correct me if I'm wrong but winter tires have a more aggressive tread than Summers, increasing rolling resistance. If they're a little low on air it'll increase that even more. There's more and harder wind blowing this time of year, and the winter mix Steve mentioned. Maybe you put on some weight too? It all adds up to worse economy.

Gopherage

Yes the do have more tread. But they are also only 17's and my summer are 19's and stupidly heavy as Steve pointed out. Either way now that I know that coils just don't automatically fail at 30k miles I'm not as worried.

blazenblue63

My rpf-1 wheels are being delivered today yaaaay lol. And my Dutch food supplies. Today is a good day.

Any recommendation on a good winter tire for my stock rim?

aaronspeed

Just purchased my '8' on Tuesday. Been looking for 3 years and finally found the one that I could not pass up. Probably won't drive it much till April but at least I will be ready.

blazenblue63

Congrats specs and color?

Vyndictive

iTrader: (28)

More important... which tires are you picking for your RPF1s?




Best snow tire = Blizzak

Worst (in my experience) Dunlop graspics DS-3


I've become a snow tire guru:
Ive had:
Hankook Ipikes - Above Average
General Altimax artics unstudded - Good
Firestone winterforce unstudded - Very good (This is the tire i recommend to non-enthusiast drivers because I think its the best performance for the value.)
Bridgestone Blizzaks - Best
Dunlop Wintersport M3 - Good
Dunlop Gaspics DS-3 - Better than all seasons, but failed to be a decent snow tire.

blazenblue63

265/40/17 star specs

blazenblue63

What do blizzaks run for stock rim do I know? Might get a nice discount if I order 8 tires lol.

blazenblue63

U not i

Gopherage

If you buy 8 you will be set for awhile.

I love my Blizzaks I've backed into snow drifts and driven right out. My brother has Firestone Snow tires on his Focus and they seem great too. But they are on a fwd car so I don't want to say one is better then another. Steve seems to like both of those the best anyways so I guess my brother and I made good choices.

blazenblue63

I barely drive my car so they don't need to be the best. I drove last winter on my Summers and even that wasn't too bad. I'm more worried about others hitting me than vice versa.

Vyndictive

iTrader: (28)

I always look for a set of tires with wheels. Most times they're cheaper than buying new tires by themselves.

Plus when you burn up the tires, you still have something of value... somewhat. And you don't blast your stock wheels with salt... if that's important you.

blazenblue63

I have a set of wheels for the non snow months now so my stock wheels are my designated snow wheels. I drive maybe 30 miles a week in my car so salt isn't really a concern.

ngill33

iTrader: (1)

Sorry to hear that you didnt like the Dunlops. I did not intend to sell you something that was subpar.

Shinka_MJR

a honda. lol. seriously, dont drive the 8 in winter. not saying you can't or dont have the skills to... i simply dont trust the other idiots on the road to be able to drive in snow.

i dropped $500 on a ford ranger 4x4 the first year i had my 8 and loved that old truck. it ran great. looked like **** and kept the 8 safe lol.

blazenblue63

Lol I hear ya. Truth is I drive 5 miles to work on Monday and 5 miles back on Friday. And if it's too bad out I grab my celica which is fantastic in the snow and the wife (her car) and she'll drop me off.

tiresmoker

iTrader: (1)

It's a waste to buy 265's.

Star specs have a square shoulder and from my experience run a little wider than a 9" wheel can handle in that size. With a 265 you will get too much sidewall flex. Plus on top of that Direzza isn't really producing "new" 265's because it isn't a hot size. Every star spec I have bought was a 2010 production date. Rubber degrades over time, and even faster if not stored properly.

From all the tire testing I have done, I have found the RX-8 performs the best with a 245-255 tire on an 8.5"-9" wheel reapectively. Don't just throw the max tire on the max wheel because you can.

Then again, you really don't show up at autocross anymore so it may not matter. Also you should have jumped on my old coilovers why you had the chance, contrary to what you heard the shocks were still in great working condition. I had them dyno tested.

Hope all is well with the wife. I know you posted up a few things about her how she wasn't doing well for a time there. You need to come out more you frenchie commie bastard. Hahahah

PS: McGraw still sucks.

blazenblue63

Hey Brian how have you been? You dego bastard. Things are a lot better with the wife thanks for that I missed races too because of work but that's squared.away for the '12 season. Talk to me more about tires because last time we talked you said I should get the 265's because you run them too.
I never said anything about your coilovers, I wanted them but the wife comes first. I don't know jack **** about any of that lol so I don't have an opinion on any of that. I trust yours, Steve's and jon's judgment on things concerning cars waaaaay more than my own. I'm still a rookie. I have no problem accepting that lol.
I'm really excited about next season now that things have stabilized personally. I had to work weekends A LOT to be able to pay the bills for steffs medical care. So I apologize your favorite Frenchy wasn't there you spaghetti sucking meatball how's Megan?

Oh before I forget, I need about an inch of headroom for my helmet. Is it possible to take the runners out of the seat and bolt it to the floor in a fixed position or do I need to buy parts?

I remember everything you told me, I want to get to know the tires before I bolt on another upgrade so I'm not masking my mistakes by improving the car. I want to improve myself too but my tires are getting worn so I have to buy new ones anyway.

Glad to hear from you again buddy

And yes the wookie sucks *****. Lmao!

Vyndictive

iTrader: (28)

No worries. They were fine, but not as good as some others. Its not like you passed them off to be anything they weren't.